In January 2016, American Lit was founded with the idea to unify America’s varied culture through hip hop, fine art, literature, and street fashion. At its core it seeks to embody the core values that founded hip hop, while embracing the new generation of more artistically minded musicians and listeners.
The branding behind American Lit reflects the reality of urban life in the United States. Stark black and white dominate the majority of content, with brief flashes of color reflecting the artists’ individual creative output, and swashes of gold reflecting the chance of monetary fortune from an otherwise unforgiving habitat.
The flag-flame icon represents the spirit of a “lit” America, while at the same time alluding to an upturned burning flag, and the countercultural characteristics of hip hop and urban society within the United States.
The typographic wordmark is, too, handlettered, for the same reason as the contents of the portraits, while taking the cleaner, clearer forms of a traditional serif and sans typefaces to better reflect literary typography.
American Lit, like hip hop, and truly any art, exists in a sense of immediacy. It exists in the now, and reacts urgently to its environment. Through hip hop, pop culture, and the new aesthetic style of art that makes up its content, the historical references that accompany the subjects maintain a sense of relevancy.
This honest blend of new concepts and old create the envelope within which the content of the brand lives. Keeping a foot on the line of the times allows the brand to create a sense of timelessness.
